Letters to the editor: Legislative session, Greater Idaho, social justice
Pugilistic session
To the Idaho legislature: This has been the most pugilistic session in my lifetime. I am dismayed by the barrage of bills, resolutions and ideas that have managed to punish the majority of citizens.
The paramount issue this session should have been dealing with COVID-19 in a meaningful way. Instead, the super-majority crafted bills and resolutions designed to punish. Legislators who refused to follow COVID-19 guidelines sickened themselves, staff and family members. This predictably resulted in a shutdown, costing the taxpayers at least $300,000.
Instead of focusing on property taxes, infrastructure, jobs, transportation and meaningful education, the following were targeted for punishment:
Attorney General Wasden, the Tax Commission, Department of Health and Welfare, and District Health agencies, child care for children (from birth to age 5), full-day kindergarten, BSU students and staff, public school boards, students and staff, the city of Boise, Ada County, women’s health care, transgender people, science, electric vehicle owners, public art and local control, state vaccine record system, undocumented Idahoans, the initiative process and our election process.
Hopefully next year will be different, with civil discourse, reasoned thought, discussion, compromise and mutual respect being the rule and not the exception.
Mary A. Glen, Boise
Social justice
Why are so many Republicans in the Idaho State Legislature working so hard to prevent students from learning about “social justice”? Why do they want society to be unjust?
Paul D. Rolig, Boise
Greater Idaho?
When presented with a sales pitch for Eastern Oregon joining Idaho, an Idaho legislator questioned whether Oregon lawmakers would agree to such a plan. “Most states don’t like to lose their resources to their neighbors,” Rep. Adams stated. He might be surprised.
Some basic number crunching would reveal the loss of a financial liability for Oregon, rather than the loss of an asset. Those counties wanting to leave do not pay their own way in Oregon. They are dependent on the urban areas they so despise to maintain them. Shifting that financial burden to Idaho could be a good deal for the rest of Oregon. For Idaho, probably not such a good deal.
Dale M. Merrell, Boise
Inequality
Inequality — of income, of opportunity, of education — is a fact in America. It is also a fact that these inequalities tend to be greatest between white people and those of other ethnic and racial groups. But rather than wanting to have these facts examined and discussed in classrooms, some of our elected officials are aiming to remove them, as if no longer teaching 2+2=4 will make that math fact go away.
While the Idaho Freedom Foundation and their acolytes want inequality to continue and get worse, the truth is, they don’t really care about social justice curricula. They only want to take away public funding for everything. This is an opportunity. From public education to medical care for the poor or elderly to Social Security and libraries, they want to defund all of the public resources that the vast majority of Idaho families rely on to keep going and to get ahead.
Even if “social justice” has you worried, don’t fall for it. Stand with your neighbors and teachers. Reach out to your legislators and tell them to support Idaho’s schools. Because the IFF won’t stop until all public goods are demolished, and nothing will stop them if you don’t speak up.
Ryan Witt, Meridian
Legislative session
The harm that the Idaho legislature has done this session is staggering. Our “leaders” have managed to introduce an overwhelming amount of abhorrent legislation.
Education: They blocked funding for teachers’ salaries, bolstered private schools at the expense of public ones and even proposed a bill prohibiting schools from teaching racist and sexist concepts.
Reproductive rights: They want to defund abortion providers (again), ban abortions before most people even know that they’re pregnant, and they blocked an attempt to make contraceptives more accessible.
LGBT+ rights: They didn’t even consider adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the state’s Human Rights Act. Plus they want to increase barriers to sexual education and joining school clubs.
And all of this pales in comparison to the blatant voter suppression bills that have flooded the Idaho statehouse. Felonies for carrying seven ballots, making ballot initiatives impossible, the list goes on and on.
To the 66th Idaho Legislature, you’ve done enough damage. Stop the recesses. Call “sine die” and go home. Idaho deserves better.
Cameron Needham, Boise
